Shine of the Archangel
by AwesomeTrinket
Summary: It's been 20 years since the disappearance of the light Ifrit Elsharion; 20 years since the dark Ifrit Veromos wiped out all of humanity. There was no hope for the humans to ever come back - or so Amelia thought. After 20 years, she felt the heartbeat of Elsharion in the stars, and now she would bring their team back together to save him, and perhaps even save the humans as well.
1. Chapter 1 - Rebirth

_OH GREAT /u/nysra I ASK OF THEE TO GRANT SHINE OF THE ARCHANGEL CHAPTERS A FANFICTION FLAIR- ahem._

 _"Oh, no, I'm doing that thing again where I start a bunch of fanfiction and finish none of them. I know, I know, I HAVE to finish The Defense Destroyers, but I saw the new transmogs and I just couldn't help myself. I'm hoping this is a one-shot story, because I_ _really don't wanna take on the responsibility of another fanfiction when I already have ten million waiting for me."_

 _This was the author's note I wrote when I first started this story. Sorry, past me, but it looks like we've got another fanfiction to fill the void of writing The Defense Destroyers. Basically, the main characters are the monsters from the newest transmog pic (minus Xiao Chun because I honestly tried to write him and I hate his character) plus Elsharion._

 _I hope you all enjoy this fanfiction, because I know this one's going to take just as much effort as The Defense Destroyers to write! I'd appreciate it SO MUCH if you could vote and comment on the chapters you like, too! Thanks again!_

* * *

 **Chapter 1  
** **Rebirth**

 _Amelia_

Let me tell you a story.

This is the story of how we caused the extinction of humans, by failing to defeat the madman who wanted to execute them all. This is the story of love and loss, and how monsters could go endless lengths to find the one they had lost so long ago. But I suppose we must have some back-story, before the tale begins.

Artamiel always blamed himself for the kidnapping of Elsharion.

In all honesty, it was a mix of everyone's fault – Elsharion's included. I could still remember the day that we lost _him_ ; the light Ifrit, the one who brought our team together at first to deal with the heavens and the underworld; things the legendary Defense Destroyers themselves couldn't even dream of. I am the guardian of starlight; I was the record keeper of the now broken group.

"The constellations never forget," I used to say. But I could never forget that day, no matter how hard I tried.

On that day, we lost Elsharion.

On that day, Artamiel disappeared without as much as a goodbye.

On that day, there were no more humans.

"Go for Woonsa first, Amelia!" Artamiel had snarled as he leaped up into the air, wings spread open and sword in hand. "He will destroy us all if we do not take him down before anyone else!"

"Yes, sir! Understood, sir!" I had saluted. Together Lushen and I performed a tandem attack on the Pioneer of darkness. The young man gasped in pain as the razor edge of Lushen's cards zoomed by him and sliced at his skin; followed up be a sharp blast of ice that froze him in his tracks.

Elsharion called out, "To your left, Lushen!"

Lushen threw a card to the left wall as told; slicing the throat of a Gina. The dark Mystic Witch gaped, her hand flying to her throat as she fell backwards; glowing red staff clattering to the ground. Elsharion threw a "well done" in his direction. Lushen grinned in return.

"I call upon the damned souls to rise up; attack this woman!" Grego snarled, bony claw closing as three hands rose from the ground and began to grab onto Kamiya's limbs; sucking the very life out of her undead body. The Kitsune's hairpin dropped out of her hair as she fell to the ground. The hands lowered back to below the ground, and a there was a newfound shine in Grego's blank eyes.

Grego, though you would think he was one of the enemies, was actually on our team. The dark Lich was a cursed soul who had once been a pirate; reanimated from the dead to wreak havoc on the world. …At least, that's what the witch who placed the spell on him said. Now, however, he was one of the strongest people in our team.

Together, the five of us fought endlessly, clinging onto the hope that we would push through and force Veromos out.

The memories of the war were blurry in my mind, but the ending was something I will always remember; the very moment that kept me up for countless nights. A portal to the underworld opened; a hellish place where monsters of darkness roamed. That was where Elsharion's brother, Veromos, ruled. The Ifrit was the king of the underworld, and his intentions were…frightening.

"There is no way we can defeat Veromos from here!" Elsharion cried out as Lanett opened up a black hole; the powerful winds whipping through the skies. "…I have to go in the underworld and face him myself!"

"Elsharion, no!" Artamiel extended one arm, but by then it was already too late.

The light Ifrit pushed his way through the mob of darkness and into the portal. We all tried to hold him back. We couldn't, though; and Elsharion disappeared, his white hair billowing behind him. Artamiel wanted to go after him, but the portal closed up just as he opened his wings. As far as we knew, Elsharion was gone and there was no way to get him back.

I wish I could say that Elsharion had won against his brother, but by the end of the day, humanity was gone. The islands had fallen; every last human hunted down and speared with weapons of darkness. From that day on, there were no more Summoners; just monsters. Now, monsters have reigned for 20 years over the world that humans once had.

The era of human ended, breathing life into the era of monster.

Most monsters celebrated the death of humans. No longer were they enslaved on rocks and forced to endure battle after battle in the Giants' Keep, Dragon's Lair or Necropolis. Now all monsters were free to live the lives that humans once had. To them, Veromos was their savior. I can still remember his evil voice as he spoke to the monsterkind.

"Gone are the days of hardship and war!" He boomed, sounding as if many people from different directions were speaking in unison. "As of today, we are all free from Summoners! We will not be treated as slaves anymore; destined to fight or to become nourishment for stronger warriors!"

That was when it felt like every last monster in the world erupted into cheers, screaming their last breath out.

Of course, there had been some monsters who resisted this way of thinking. Not all of humanity was as bad as Veromos made them out to be. There were kind Summoners out there, just as much as there had been cruel Summoners. At one point, The Defense Destroyers – Randy, Copper, Olivia and Bulldozer – tried to storm the underworld.

Now, it has been 20 years since the four have broken apart; the only ones alive now Olivia and Bulldozer.

Olivia, the only ghoul-monster hybrid in this world. Olivia, who was once known as The Consumer but fed only when she was on the verge of dying without the taste of monster flesh. Olivia; whose wings were like fire and crystal. Olivia couldn't save Randy and Copper from their inevitable doom. I'm sure she blames herself for it.

Bulldozer, the Frankenstein with a psychopath as a Summoner. Bulldozer, whose arms weren't flesh and bone; instead metal and wire. Bulldozer, who was Olivia's first friend and her right-hand man. Bulldozer couldn't save Randy from being skewered on a spear of darkness, or Copper from being ripped apart limb by limb because of Lanett's black holes. I know Bulldozer can never forget what he has seen.

They weren't the only ones to try and stand up to Veromos. Countless others tried their best, and they all met similar fates to Randy and Copper. There used to be a resistance; a secret group of rebels who wanted to take down the new dictator. The town the rebels lived in was wiped out by a blast of pure darkness ten years ago; no one who was anywhere near the town at the time had survived.

I saw what was left of that town after the blast, to try and find any survivors, but there was no one; just ashes. Through the rubble, though, there was a filthy teddy bear that had somehow survived the explosion; green buttons for eyes. The name "PUFF" had been stitched onto the bottom of the bear's foot. When I saw the bear, my hand covered my mouth; these kinds of teddies belonged to Occult Girls; who were so young and innocent.

I reached down and touched it. The memories of the object were everywhere; talking to me, telling its story. A tiny girl; no more than 13, clutched it closely to her chest as she watched a Dryad flit around the girl's brother. His armor was a bright golden; almost like sunshine. His four wings had been sliced cleanly off of his back, and he bled heavily. Like Artamiel, he was an Archangel – but he was dying.

I could _hear_ the girl's voice, begging for her friend Herne to save her brother. Herne, with blue leaves for hair, tried and tried to keep him alive, but in the end the archangel's consciousness slipped away, and so did his life. Herne sobbed to the girl that Eladriel was gone.

"I'm so sorry, Charlotte," Herne covered her pale face with her tiny hands, and together the two cried. Herne looked up in the distance, where an evil darkness was coming. The memories ended all of a sudden, and that's when I realized I myself was crying. Charlotte had been so young, and now she'll never have a future.

I was crying for all the lives that were cut short that day; innocent Charlotte one of those lives. God, there had to have been thousands of monsters there; some of them as young as 6. Thinking about them makes me tear up. No one else cared about the lives that were gone, though, too busy with their own freedom to pay attention to the resistance.

The world has been rebirthed into a grotesque dystopia, and most monsters are too blind to see the nightmare in front of them.

Our own group was now gone, the world never the same. Most of the buildings and architectural achievements that humans have created have gone abandoned and no longer taken care of. Vines cover the walls of what humans once knew as the Eiffel Tower; the Empire State Building's windows shattered and the foundations covered with rust. There was no way to go back from this now.

* * *

I never gave up hope that maybe Elsharion was out there somewhere, but everyone else did. No one knew where Elsharion was after he entered the underworld; not even me. I had tried and tried, desperately, to find some trace of him, but not even the constellations were able to detect even a breath. We all thought he was dead. Even Artamiel had given up hope, and he took to the skies, never to be seen again. One by one, our group had dissolved, without Elsharion to weigh us down.

…But then, one day, the constellations told me something.

I had prayed to the stars to please, _please_ , just give me a sign that Elsharion was still out there. I had done this every day; in hopes that there would be something left. 20 years had passed, and not a single peep from the stars that would indicate his life still goes on. I would pray and pray for hours on end to the stars to just give me a sign; a single sign. But there was always dead silence, and I would stay there in the grassy field I went to every night under dawn broke.

If someone were to see the memories of this field, they would see a heartbroken young woman, crying every night as she looked up at the stars and howling at the sky to save a man. They would think the woman lost a lover, from the way she grieved and wept. Though Elsharion was not my love, he was perhaps my closest friend.

He was the man who dragged me with his bare hands from a dark place that I might not have escaped from myself, and I owe him my life for it. I wasn't going to give up, even if there had been no results for what had been ages. I kneeled in the grass and prayed to the stars to help me find Elsharion, expecting no results.

Yet, after 20 years, that day was different, and I felt _it_.

A heartbeat that was not my own rang in my ears. Though it was faint, it was definitely there. After two decades of silence, finally some part of Elsharion was alive. The stars glimmered in the night sky, as if rejoicing the fact that the rock that held our group together was alive. Tears streamed down my face as the heartbeat gently thrummed, and I fell to my knees.

"Elsharion…" I sobbed, my face twisting into a smile. "You're alive…You're alive!"

Determination flooded my body – determination to save Elsharion after all these years.

"Can you hear me, Elsharion?" I held my hands up to the night, unable to stop crying. "Please, if you're there, give me a sign! We're going to save you, dear friend! We will save you!"

As if he were speaking to me, I heard him. It was a faint whisper, like a breeze, but nevertheless, the voice was his familiar, deep rumble of a voice; calling out to me.

 _Amelia…_ He whispered. Oh, _god_ , he sounded so real, like he was really right there with me; sighing into my ear. I don't know how to explain it. Such a thing had never happened before; not just with Elsharion, but with anyone who the stars could find for me. They never directly spoke to me; but with Elsharion, something was different.

 _…Amelia, is that you?_ He breathed, as if he couldn't believe it either.

"Yes, yes, Elsharion, it's me!" I clasped my hands together. "Can you hear me? Where are you?!"

 _Underworld…_ Elsharion murmured. _…please, help…I can feel you…there's still hope…_

"Elsharion, I'm going to find you! All five of us are, and then we're going to save you! So don't you dare die on me!" I couldn't stop myself now. "God, I've waited 20 years to hear your voice again, and I'm not going to let you slip away again! I'll bring our team back together, and we're going to get you out of there!"

 _Thank you, Amelia…_ Elsharion choked up, and then his voice was gone.

I just sat there on my knees, crying into my hands. But for once, the tears weren't spilled from grief; instead from a joy that burned like a fire deep inside me. I didn't care if the other four members of our team were in different corners of the world anymore. I would go to the underworld and back to reunite us all, and that was exactly what I was – no, what _we_ were going to do.

For the first time in twenty years, there was hope for us.


	2. Chapter 2 - Regroup

_Anyone here ever read "This is Where it Ends" by Marieke Nijkamp? One of the things I loved about the book was the alternating perspectives, going between four people. I decided to do something similar to that with this fanfic (ignoring that one Miitopia fanfic I tried to write with the perspectives, that was honestly trash)._

 _Our alternating perspectives are gonna be Amelia and Lushen; the latter of whom you're now gonna meet! Anyway, Chapter 2 is now up and running, baby! Who's ready for another chapter of one of the most depressing fanfiction I've written in a while? After this, I'm gonna take some more time to get the plot figured out even further, so don't expect a new update in, like, a week or so. This might take another month or so to get another chapter out._

 _I spent a lot of effort writing these two chapters (I actually wrote these two chapters before even publishing either of them) and I'd REALLY appreciate if you could vote and comment on the chapters you liked! Thank you so much ahead of time!_

* * *

 **Chapter 2  
Regroup**

 _Amelia_

I couldn't believe it, I just _couldn't_. After all these years, Elsharion was alive! But I was hopeful, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to find him alone. I needed our old friends back. It was at that very moment, where I kneeled in the tall grass before the stars, that I knew what my mission was – after 20 years, I finally had a purpose in life.

I would stitch our group back together, and then we would save Elsharion.

Lushen would be the easiest to find. After we broke apart, he ventured out to the world humans once lived in – now inhabited by monsters – and did the one thing he was best at: gambling. He called himself a Card Master when he first became part of the group; claiming he had never once lost. We thought he had been bluffing at first.

As it turned out, he truly was that good at the art of cards; though no one really knew if his claim of never losing was true. Nowadays, he had a reputation for being the best of the best. They do call him the Card Master for a reason.

Some thought he was cheating, and others still decided to cheat against him. I have to admit, Lushen was really good at picking out the monsters who tried to cheat. I saw him once, and the cheating was so subtle, no one else seemed to notice. Lushen sometimes had his losses, but more often than not he could win.

I advanced on into a more populated area; a human city. Lushen would frequent this particular city, to the point where everyone knew him by name. My wings spread, and I took flight, though I did not fly more than a few feet above the ground. The field turned into a forest, the forest into one singular tree, with letters carved into it. I reached out and touched the carvings; to view the memories inside of this tree.

Crying. A young woman was crying as she buried her friends. Her eyes open, and the parts that should be white were an inky black; the irises a bright red. Her blonde hair was let down, though she clutched a hairpin in her hands. She buried her face in her hands and sunk to her knees in front of their graves; mourning their loss.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, she opened her wings, made of a strange material that looked like red, orange and yellow crystal shards, and she took to the sky. Once a year, the woman returned to the tree to pay her respects to her fallen friends. She was alone every time.

With a soft gasp, I realized the woman was Olivia; the tree where Randy and Copper had been buried.

I whispered a prayer under my breath for them, and continued on my journey into a city. Surprisingly, the city was relatively well-kept. The buildings were still standing and clean; monsters streaming back and forth through them. Snippets of conversation floated around me.

"You had an _affair_?! And got her _pregnant_?!"

"I'm sorry, Ophilia, but –"

"We're _done!_ Pack up your stuff, Shimitae! I want you _out_ of my apartment by tomorrow!"

"I miss Galleon…"

"I know you do, Sissy."

"I heard Lushen's on a winning streak again!"

"He always is, Bellenus."

 _Winning streak_. Of course Lushen was here, gambling away. I was sure that he was loaded with Mana Crystals at this point. The streets were busy, and I felt like the odd one out in the sea of monsters. My back itched, as if a pair of eyes was watching me. I lifted my head and looked around, wings folded up and twitching.

As far as I could see, everyone minded their own business; heads down and staring at their phones or turned to one side as they chatted away with another monster. One thing I noticed was that, after the extinction of humanity, the world became a lot quieter. Cleaner, even. Cars were no longer used, as a good majority of monsters (myself included) could fly. The environment was better, the food fresher; it was almost like Veromos was right – that humans were a plague.

Perhaps a part of me agreed with Veromos's mentality.

I shivered as the thought shot through my brain like lightning. I couldn't agree with Veromos now; not after the mass genocide he and his disciples had committed so long ago. That was _billions_ of lives lost, and for what? Just because some monsters were caught up in the grasp of corrupted humans, didn't mean the world was all bad.

God, I had to be the only monster in the entire city that thought what Veromos had done was some kind of evil. What had happened to monsterkind? Had we all thrown out our morals in exchange for our so-called "freedom?" I couldn't believe what had happened to monsters; surely our group wasn't the only one who had been against the extinction?

I entered the one place I knew Lushen would be in.

* * *

 _Lushen_

I look up from my cards. Verdehile has a smirk on his face, and throws his own deck down onto the table, revealing his hand.

"Straight flush!" He crows triumphantly.

I sigh and do the same. The crowd of monsters gathering around begins to scream. "Royal."

"How do you always win?" Verdehile snarls, pounding a fist down onto the table. His left hand begins to glow a soft yellow. His right eye begins to twitch a little. If his irises weren't already the color of blood, I'd say he was starting to see red.

I catch this. "Verde. You really think you'd be able to win somehow by fighting me?"

"Always worth a shot." The two of us jump out of our chairs as Verdehile throws two bats at me.

I dodge both, and the crowd goes wild. So that's the way Verdehile wants to play this. Sore losers always tend to get violent. It's weird, man. Honestly, though, his attempts are pitiful. After a while I just decide to finish it and throw three cards at him. They cut at his skin and his hair, and he falls to the ground.

I brush a strand of hair out of my eyes. "Are you done yet, pretty boy?"

"…This isn't over!" Verdehile spits, throwing down the amount of mana crystal he had bet onto the poker table and stomping out of the building. I sit down and collect the crystals; well over 400.

"Anyone else wanna try?" I ask the crowd.

As my next opponent sits down, I hear the door open, and I look up. The last person I expected to ever see again, next to Elsharion, makes eye contact with me, and I freeze up. Some of the other monsters look in the same direction as Amelia closes her wings made of light. I've always wondered how she could make them work.

"…I'll be back in a minute, you guys." I mutter and stand up, heading over to the entrance.

When Amelia sees me heading her way, she smiles wide and runs over. "Lushen! It's been so long!"

"I know, right?" I can't help but crack a grin as well. "God, we should get together more often."

I clasp a hand on her shoulder and lead her into the bar, talking and laughing like we haven't been apart for 20 years. Once we're out of sight from everyone, my smile fades and I turn to Amelia. She has a similar expression on her face.

"Alright, what's the deal?" I ask. "You don't just surface up after two decades to extend an olive branch. I know you."

"It's Elsharion." Amelia's voice cracks.

My heart stops at the mention of his name.

But Amelia's next words are something that I never thought I would hear. "He's alive, Lushen, oh god, he's _alive!_ "

"… _What_?" I splutter.

Amelia starts rambling in hushed whispers; a sign she's nervous. "I don't know how or why, but today I heard him, I _felt_ his heartbeat, Lushen! He spoke to me, told me he was in the underworld!"

Without warning, she clasps me on the shoulder with such force that I wince. "There's still hope, Lushen. We have to save him. We have to bring the team back to save Elsharion."

"Dude, calm down." I try to pry her fingers off my coat. "For all you know, you could've hallucinated whatever you heard."

"The stars don't lie, Lushen." She keeps her grip. "Please, we have to take a chance. What's the worst that can happen?"

"We go to the Underworld, Elsharion's not there, but now we've seriously pissed off Veromos." I spit. "And this time, we _don't_ narrowly escape death again."

"Then I'm ready to die for that chance." Amelia fixes her steely gaze in my eyes. "I'm not giving up on him, Lushen, and I need your help. I need your help, and Grego's, and Artamiel's. I can't do this alone."

I pause, and blink. "Amelia, I am sorry to say, but you are crazy."

"What?" She seems taken aback.

"I mean, seriously. Think about it." I start. "After 20 years, you're saying that Elsharion has finally woken up in the stars. And he picked the 20 year anniversary of his disappearance. And _now_ – no, don't start, Amelia, I'm not done yet – now you want to bring the group together again and storm the Underworld to get him back."

"But here's the thing, Lushen." She takes a breath. "…We could possibly save humanity if we get him back."

" _What?!_ " Now it's my turn to be taken aback. "Amelia, now you're really going mad! Do you not remember –"

"I do, I do, really." Amelia sighs. "I could never forget. But it's different this time. We can save them. Bring them back. But to do that, we need to save Elsharion."

"And how, exactly, do you suggest Elsharion could save them?"

Amelia takes a breath and begins to explain.

* * *

 _Amelia_

It may seem like a shock, but long ago, humans and monsters used to coexist, just like Veromos and Elsharion once did. Though the two brothers had been born by the same two people, they couldn't have had more different upbringings if they tried.

When Elsharion was born, he had been raised by their mother and father, who taught him kindness and patience, and he grew to love humanity. He was eight when his brother was born. Their mother died in the birth, and their father died of heartbreak soon after. The two of them were sent to an orphanage, though no one came for them.

Veromos was treated harshly by his peers and by the woman who ran the orphanage; a human girl who monsters flinched away from and spoke of in terrified whispers. No one sane had ever seen her face before, those who did were never seen again; but they knew of the terrors that she could reign on the defenseless children. Veromos especially seemed to be her scapegoat, and was treated the worst of the children.

This human girl was very special, though. Unlike most other humans that the monsters knew, she had a very silver tongue; an expert at manipulating feelings. She could twist and turn every word spoken to her advantage, and she used her ability to turn the monsters against Veromos; to shun him even more than he was already shunned.

"What kind of freak are you?" He would frequently hear the other monsters sneer; "Some kind of demon?"

Elsharion, however, never gave in the pressure put upon him to follow the crowd; to look at Veromos with a disgusted gleam in his eye and ask why he had _Veromos_ as a brother. Elsharion stayed kind to him, and together the two developed a special power; one that only the brothers could invoke together. It was a strange healing that could even raise the dead – though neither of them told anyone.

…At least, not until Elsharion told me a year before the genocide.

I watched as Lushen's expression changed from confused, to shock, and then – could it be? – hope. It was the same hope that I now felt. The light dimmed, though, and Lushen wrenched my hand off of his shoulder, before smoothing out his green coat. After that, he looked up at me and shook his head.

"…You don't get it, do you?" He sighed. "Look, Amelia, I know you're upset over Elsharion's disappearance and blame yourself. Trust me, I do, too, but stop for a moment. Think about it. Do you _really_ think that Elsharion would want you to get yourself killed for him?"

"Elsharion told me there was still hope." I choked, realizing far too late that I was crying. "Please, Lushen, you can't just give up like this! I don't care that it's been 20 years! Just – trust me, please? For old time's sake?"

His gaze softened as he saw the tears spilling down my pale face, despite my efforts to wipe them away. Lushen sighed for what had to be the fourth time since my arrival, running a hand through his brunette hair. I noticed that he still had that white highlight near the front, from when Elsharion and I thought he would look cooler with it.

"...Look, I might have been a little too harsh earlier." Lushen admitted. "It's just...been hard without Elsharion. Sometimes I see something and I think 'Elsharion would like that.' It hurts, man, it really does."

"And that's why I don't want to give up." I glanced down at my shoes; pale blue and skintight. "I know how crazy it sounds, but..."

"No, I get it." Lushen held up both hands. "Maybe I jumped the gun too early, you know?"

"Wait, what're you saying?" I looked up from the dirty found and at him.

"I'm saying I'll go with you. But just know that we may die and Elsharion may not be in the Underworld after all." He had a small smile on his face now as he spoke.

My own smile was far brighter. "You know, Lushen, that's a risk I'm willing to take."


End file.
